Marketing Essentials Report: Analysis of Zara's Marketing Practices

This report delves into the core aspects of marketing, examining the roles and responsibilities within the marketing function, and their relationship to the wider organizational context. It analyzes strategic marketing analysis, marketing mix planning, implementation, and control. The report utilizes Zara as a case study, evaluating how different organizations apply the marketing mix to achieve business objectives. It explores marketing tactics and evaluates a basic marketing plan for an organization, culminating in the design of a strategic marketing plan that applies the 7Ps to achieve marketing objectives. The report covers key marketing processes, the roles and responsibilities of a marketing manager, and the importance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional units within an organization. The analysis includes an evaluation of the key elements of the marketing function and how they interrelate with other functional units, providing a comprehensive overview of marketing strategies and practices.

Marketing Essentials

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function........................................1
Explain how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational context.
.....................................................................................................................................................3
M1 Analyse the roles and responsibilities of marketing.............................................................4
M2 Analyse the significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional
units of an organisation...............................................................................................................4
D1 Critically analyse and evaluate the key elements of the marketing function and how they
interrelate with other functional units of an organisation...........................................................5
Conclusions .....................................................................................................................................5
PART 2............................................................................................................................................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
Compare the ways in which different organisations apply the marketing mix to the marketing
planning process to achieve business objectives.........................................................................6
M3 Evaluate different tactics applied by organisations to demonstrate how business objectives
can be achieved...........................................................................................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for an organisation..............................................9
M4 Produce a detailed, coherent evidence-based marketing plan for an organisation...............9
D2 Design a strategic marketing plan that tactically applies the use of the 7Ps to achieve
overall marketing objectives.....................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is an activity which is part of management process of an organization. The
word Marketing particularly refers to promotion of products, services or different offerings of the
company while introducing them in the market or want to capture a new market (Chunling,
2020). The concept of marketing is wider as well as broader and it is important to focus on future
& current trends so that better and relevant information is obtained. For example- at current
perspective, trends which are at emerging point are artificial intelligence, chart-bots,
professionalization, video marketing, influence marketing etc. The future trends in marketing are
enabling AI and machine learning and linking them product as well as service. The importance
of marketing is increasing at rapid scale. Marketing processes includes several steps such as
mission, situation analysis, marketing strategy, marketing mix, implementation and control.
With focusing on these marketing processes, organization is able to execute functions &
operations in appropriate manner. The marketing can include advertisement, different
promotional activities, selling and so on. For the report purpose Zara is chosen organization.
Company is dealing with apparels, a relating organization. The company was founded in 1974 by
Amancio Ortega, Rosalía Mera in Spain.
PART 1
TASK 1
Explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function.
Apart from marketing as creative and logical thinking of marketers to use innovation but
also markets have to be up to date with current trends. Trends that attract more customers in
dynamic changing in marketplace (Miller and Peterson, 2020). Maintain a loyal customer base
for company have become more challenging than ever before. Here are some on- going and
upcoming trends that commonly predicted by different marketeers around the globe:
 Using services based on Artificial Intelligence.
 More use of personalized products and services.
 Increase use of digital platforms.
Easy access of communication for both i. e. for marketers as well as customers.
Marketing processes broadly comprises of four components that can be described below
in detail:
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 Strategic Marketing Analysis: It is important for the company to define their offering.
This can further be elaborated to identify what needs and wants of the customer they can
satisfy in order to maximize their profit. Then, as per their offering they need to define
their market in which they are there are able to their see potential customer's .
 Marketing Mix Planning: This step is critical and it is important to plan their marketing
mix in the form of 7 P's in order to be effective in satisfying their customers and getting
success in achieving their objectives.
 Marketing implementation: It is must for the company to carefully plan, coordinate and
implement appropriately by utilizing their marketing mix. In addition to this, they also
oversees that all the different department are working in synchronization and united by
their thought processes. This will see to it that they are successful in fulfilling their
objective and sustaining Zara's brand value.
 Marketing Control: It is important for the company to consistently monitor all their
marketing activities at every stage. This is beneficial for them to compare their actual
performance with that of the standard performance and timely take corrective action to
improve the same (Rutz and Watson, 2019).
Roles and responsibilities of a marketing manager
As Marketing functions are critical task that promotes the growth of the Zara. So, these
functions are performed by marketing manager. They ensure that right and most appropriate
message is delivered to their target market (Morgan and et. al., 2019). This, is beneficial for them
to maximize their customer's satisfaction and in turn enhancing their Brand presence. There
roles and responsibilities are numerous and can be explained in detailed below:
 Recognise the Needs and Wants: It is must for the manager to recognize the needs of
their customer. First and foremost task undertaken by them to be carefully analyse their
customer's needs and wants . This is done by them in order to understand and
accordingly deliver those products and services that are highly demanded in the market.
 Applying Strategy: It is one of the most important responsible of the marketing
manager of the company to implement strategies as planned by their senior. It is
thoughtfully planned as per the goals of Zara. This will be fruitful for them to be able to
achieve as well as sustain their position in the industry.
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 Design programs and campaign: It is crucial for Zara to deliver successful programs
and campaigns. Through these programs the managers is able to innovate and implement
their planned activities . This is important to make sure that all their activities are aligned
in a very structured way in order to achieve to be successful in achieving the objectives
of the company.
 Manage Communications: It is essential for the marketing team to develop strong
relationships with the media in order to be able to establish strong communication in
order to be able to spread Zara's message. This is done as most of the time it is must for
them to engage with people that aren't part of their company. This can include vendors
and advertising agencies.
 Coordination among Teams: It is mandatory for them to monitor the activities of all
the different departments. This is done my them to ensure that appropriate
communication is established among all their different functions. This further helps them
identify the issues faced by any of the department and take immediate and timely action
in order to implement the most feasible solution for the same.
 Administering Projects, Budget and People: Along with managing and monitoring the
projects of their own department it is must for them to manage projects, budget as well
as their people. In addition to this, they are leader's of their marketing teams that include
content creator and graphic designing.
 Brand Value: Due to increased competition it is inherent for consumer's to grab the best
opportunity that has enhanced brand value, fulfills their requirement and also provide
them enhanced value for their money.
Explain how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational context.
Marketing is much more than just a activity that performed before doing actual sells. It is
an activity that play a crucial role in promoting the products among customers. The function of
marketing is primarily carried out by specialized department of the company (Deepak and
Jeyakumar, 2019). The whole process starts with marketing plan and end with achieving
objectives that set behind them. To develop a meaning and purpose marketing it imperative to
establish close link between the other functional areas of the organization.
Link with Production Department: The marketing department need high cooperation
with production department. As this department is majorly responsible in developing products
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with ensuring quality and volume that need to be delivered in the market. The research and
development team are the part of production department as they test and develop new products to
meet the requirements of the market needs or the can rebuild or replace them from market to
meet the healthy requirements (Moorman and et. al., 2019).
Link with Finance Department: The department is responsible for overall budgeting of
the organization. Whether it is for promotional activities, development activities, research
activities or distributional activities. Marketing department need to have close relation with
finance department as they ensure the financial capabilities. Each departments have their own
budget but sometimes the are not sufficient so how far the budget can be extend within a period
to meet the opportunities are important.
Link with Human Resource Department: The HR of the company is responsible of
hiring right candidates for right job. Therefore it become important to have right human source
within the organization to have competitive advantages. Ultimately, it is the people behind the
success of the company and its objectives, whether it can be efficient production team, Research
team or Sale-force of the organization an so on.
Importance of having effective interrelationships between different functional departments
It is important to have interrelationship between different functional department so that it
is easy for entity to get the work done in most effective manner. Also, when departments are
interconnected with each other manager find it easy to make decisions in well effective manner.
Furthermore, it is too analysed functional department helps in achieving of goals as well as
objectives in proper manner.
M1 Analyse the roles and responsibilities of marketing.
Marketing often related with people's emotions. Earning monetary profit is not always the
motivating factor behind carrying out the marketing activities (Hollensen, 2019). Sometimes the
ROI in such activities can be intangible form. Such as:
Well established Communication System: The very primary motive of marketing is to
create communication system. This allow two way communication; Firstly, the marketers
through their product and secondly, from customers or prospect customers regarding the
products. Zara being one the reputed store handle their communication system into segments
like; users of social media, direct user from company's website, other third party online platforms
etc.
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Differentiate the Product from Other Brands: Another important role is to make own
brand different from other. The aim of the company is to make brand more catching, appealing
and innovative than others. There are variety of options that are available in the market. It is the
responsibility of the marketers to promote their product in a different way that product stand in
shelf visibly different than rest.
Marketing Boost Sales: Above all the main purpose fulfilled by marketing is to boosting
sales. In the era of digitize world and maintain a customer base is toughest challenge company
face. It is the effective marketing tools and strategies that help in increase sales and create
prospect buyers. Marketing drive the company to reach the customers and defines ways to meet
the survival needs of the company in current market situations.
M2 Analyse the significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional units
of an organisation.
Marketing is the strategic discipline which pin out the most activities of the business and
an essential ingredient in order to communicate plan. It often said that business is seen in
customer's point of view. Therefore is it important meet customer needs as expected. The
marketing function is carried out by a separate specialised department. Who are in responsible
for developing effective marketing plan which significantly require close link with other
functional areas of the organisation.
D1 Critically analyse and evaluate the key elements of the marketing function and how they
interrelate with other functional units of an organisation.
Since marketing process is a strategic approach which helps to identify objectives and
provide path to reach them. And the various components of it makes it consistent for achieving
organisational objectives. Marketing being the most important part of any organisation who deals
it business internationally thus, its influence and interrelatedness outline its role in overall
functions of the firm. Marketing is gaining more importance in era of technology that have
interconnected everyone with every information they want to seek. Now the role of marketing is
getting broader than ever. It touches the emotional attachment that linked with brand and its
offerings. It have not only become way increase business profitability and reach to its customers
but also gain the long term trust and loyalty for the brand. As customers informed about their
existence and continuous innovation through marketing. Marketing and its different techniques
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and tool have become customer's measurement bar that indicate the company's efficiency and
judge the effectiveness through it.
Conclusions
From above It has been observe that, company to be successful in the market need to
have an internal relationship in a way that objectives of the organization can be achieved without
any obstacles. In Zara also, different departments from Research to Implantation of plans in the
organization have a vital role in increasing sales, creating loyal customers base, low employee
turnover and effective workforce.
PART 2
TASK 2
Compare the ways in which different organisations apply the marketing mix to the marketing
planning process to achieve business objectives.
Zara is popular for their Spanish clothing brand. They have been able to maintain as well
as their brand due to their very unique and ingenious marketing strategy: Below it can be
explained how they have successfully utilized their marketing mix and become one of the
fastest growing manufacture of Spanish clothing in the entire world:
 Product: Zara is involved in providing it's product to all generations including Women,
Men and Children's clothing. It's one of the major strength is that has able identify the
changing needs of their consumer's and quick adopt them in order to enhance their
customer's satisfaction. They do this by quickly introducing new trends and offering their
stylish cloths as per the current market trend.
 Price: The company follows a belief of providing affordable prices to it's customer's.
They are able to offer their products as per the latest trend by utilizing cheap labour as
well as raw material. Their pricing strategies differ as per their target customers. They
mostly follow a premium pricing strategy.
 Promotion: The company follow the very unique marketing strategy and has adopted the
approach of 'Zero investment marketing'. Their promotional efforts are visible by the
attention to each and every details in all their showrooms.
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 Place: They utilize their valuable investment for opening new stores and providing
exclusive and customized services to their valuable
 People: Their talented workforce are responsible for their designers to their sales
assistance. It was impossible for them to be successful without their continual as well as
sustained efforts.
 Process: The company's processes are diverse with respect to different segment that
includes manufacturing, purchasing and delivery. Their processes are witness by a large
number of people by social media.
 Physical Evidence: Zara is able to enrich the experience of their customer's by their
customized products and services. They ensure that their ambience including colour,
layout and music on all stores enhances the comfort level and creates home like
environment.
On the other side it is important to compare the level of competition Zara has in their industry.
For getting better understanding it is must to analyse the marketing mix of their immediate
competitor H&M. It is explained in detailed below:
 Product: The most of their cloths offering is concentrated on women's swear. It is
evident in their communication . They offer a large range of sportswear's clothing
accessories as per the the latest trend in the market for all including men, women, teens as
well as kids. Their large variety of products include tops, jackets, shoes, jeans and many
other products.
 Price: The price of the company's product's is quite cheaper and affordable compared to
their competitors involved in digital marketing. Most of the public at large are attracted
towards their product and service offering due to their product's reasonable prices and
quality.
 Place: The company are able to sell their unique and customized products as their store
are located on all the major cities in the entire world with more than 3500 stores. They
have a strong hold in the U.S market with approximately 407 stores. They are more
productive in U.S as compared to their other stores in the entire world.
 Promotion: Their promotional efforts are visible by their flexible and most recent
adoption to latest trends in the market. They do this by the way of providing SMS
coupons, their flag promotion as well as their local media sales. They have been
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successful in enhancing customer's attractions by utilizing big names including Karl
Lagerfeld, Rihanna and Jimmy Choo.
 People; The company has carefully planned and analysed that they can cater to women of
lower middle class majorly the working women. So, they defined their target market as
younger people. Along, with this they motivate their talented workforce by making them
feel as highly valued . They do this to ensure highly engagement of people for achieving
the goals of H&M.
 Process: The company's ensures that their product mix changes as per tastes and
preference of the local people. This is due to their quick as well as constant feedback at
every stage.
 Physical Evidence: It is evident by their physical evidence in the form of their exterior
visibility. They do this my displaying samples of their quality products along with the
discount provided for each of their unique offerings.
Swot analysis of Zara:
This analysis aids to analysis internal as well as the external environment of the
company: It can be elaborated below:
 Strength: The company keep itself well informed and adopt the latest trend in the market
and as a result maximizes customer's satisfaction. Along with this, they have a number of
unique strength that includes large number of store, their supplier deliver them products
within 48 hours in the entire world and their exclusive design team.
 Weakness: They were number of weakness that helped Zara to improve themselves as
well as sustain their position in the market. These mainly includes dynamic changing
technology,shift to increasing digital market and establishing AI based predictions.
 Opportunity: The company has been successful in eliminating it's weakness my grab
the best opportunity that mainly includes rapid delivery cycle and eco-friendly by
adopting latest fashion trends.
 Threats: The company's biggest threat in the competition level in the industry. Beside
this some of threats they are currently facing includes Covid-19, sustainability and
government regulations.
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M3 Evaluate different tactics applied by organisations to demonstrate how business objectives
can be achieved.
Since the company entering into new market which is FMCG, therefore company must
analyze its competitor's position in the market. To be successful at FMCG sector company have
to adopt different strategies that provoke customers to try6 the new offerings (Fotiadis,
Mombeuil and Valek, 2018). Company can use low price policy at the beginning to capture
markets, offer new methods of products like using customization which is currently trending
among people. Unlike any strategic plans, the tactical plans are short term plans that are made to
fulfill the current situation demands (Dreyer and et. al., 2018). Such as in low price case of
ZARA's FMCG product, as the later can change their pricing strategy in near future.
TASK 3
Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for an organisation.
Marketing plan refers to a comprehensive document that broadly states the overall
marketing efforts that need to be put by the marketers of the company. The document is more of
a blue print which specify the strategies that needed to be fulfilled (Koivulehto, 2017). Due to
non static environment of business that have made imperative for organizations to have a well
versed marketing plan. It is a plan which can include; Business Objectives, Promotional
Strategies, SWOT analysis, Budget plans and much more. For ZARA, the company can try to
enter new market such as in FMCG. The company is already dealing with apparel and
accessories based retail line and is one the leading brand. The company may offer variety in their
brand. By offering products based on FMCG may help them to capture new markets, new
customers and thus company can grow more than from apparel brand.
ZARA with its new product line needs to do continuous monitor as the brand is already
have an impact in the mind of their user. So it become more important for company to focus on
their new line of products. Keeping a track record of new product help company to forecast its
further plan and procedures. Any negative impact in the beginning of the product can result in
huge face loss of the company even in its other product line also. Therefore ZARA must analyses
it s target customer's demand, competitor's strategies, pricing policy and effective promotional
tools that boost the Zara's image towards their new product line and make changes if needed to at
the time of evaluation.
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M4 Produce a detailed, coherent evidence-based marketing plan for an organisation.
7Ps marketing strategy
ZARA, with its new business strategy to start new product line in FMCG sector can be
successful. To analyses the strategies that can be brought down by the company into its
marketing strategies on launching new product line can be observe from Marketing Mix tool,
coined by Jerome McCarthy. The concept popularly known as 4P's of marketing, which have
extended its meaning with change in market definition over the time (Hollensen, 2019). To
understand further, lets discussed the all the P's of Marketing Mix in order to understand how the
relative factors affect and how to achieve competitive advantages.
 Product: In first, the company have most primary responsibility to manufacture a product
or service that have meet the customer expectations. The product must meet the
requirements that have aimed to deliver. If ZARA wish to extend its product line to
FMCG then it is significant for company to analyze the needs that customer is expecting
to deliver.
 Place: After deciding what type of products, then company needs to check the target
customers, that products need to be delivered. This can be online store, large supermarket
chain or doorstep delivery option.
 Price: Since ZARA believes in providing quality so the company in its new products
which is FMCG can provide high quality products. The price is not the only factor that
people may avoid it is the quality people are more concerned.
 Promotions: Promotional tools such as, Ads, PR, Social media platforms etc are use to
make the products popular in the market. Company using effective promotional
techniques can make aware customers about their new offering.
 People: This refers to the people of the organization. All the employees, managers are the
most valuable assets on which company can rely. It is important to have right people to
achieve the new objectives of ZARA.
 Process: The company can use any methods of processing their products to customers. It
can be online as well as offline; store locating in markets. Process can include company's
judging aspects such as the sales type, payment modes, distribution channels and
managing customer relationships.
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